Black Dragon
by sanian
Summary: A brief story of a moment in a rogue Black Dragons life.


**Very short story i wrote for a fanfic competition on a forum i visit. competition collapsed due to the organiser having offline stuff to worry about, decided to finally register and post it on here, hoping for some feedback.**

**Competitions theme was 'Western', i have no idea if this works in that category. **

**One last note, i realise a space marine not wanting to beat the shit out of stuff and kill for their cause may be somewhat outlandish but i figured if one thing can go wrong such as the mutation allowing for the bony growths in the Black Dragon space marine chapter than so can something else, like say, the marine retaining some shreds of his former (peaceful) personality, without them getting totally over-written with battle hymns and what-not. Anyhow tell me what you think.**

**Thanks in advance for any feedback, no idea if i can reply to reviews so going to say it here.**

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Peace. Not a common situation for a Space Marine to find himself in.

He'd dug into a hill-side over-looking a lake, cut down trees for support beams, dug a fire-pit outside. It was meant to be a temporary shelter while he figured out what to do next, he'd been on the run for so long it never occured to him at first that this world may be his final stop. It was a beautiful world, remote. There was a single Imperial settlement on the other side of the planet consisting of farmers and herders. The only technology available to them: their long-distance vox system, housed in the only remaining pre-fabricated housing unit the settlers brought with them when they first landed, the rest of the pre-fab's had long since been replaced with bigger structures made of the local trees.

He had initially planned to wait for one of the settlers twice a year supply drops, then stow away on board and hitch a ride to a more populated world where he could find transport elsewhere. The supply ship didnt come, back-ward world like this probably got kicked back a few spots in the supply line.

So, he made himself comfortable. Was no reason to wait for half a year living like one of the thousands of refugees he'd seen.  
Soon his little hole in the ground became his abode. He spent his days fishing, exploring the area around him, memorising routes, hidden paths, game trails and watering holes. And so it came to be that one day he sat, back to a tree, waiting for the fish he caught to crisp over the fire he made, and it suddenly hit him...Peace. It occured to him that he actually liked his life here.  
The ship he arrived on in this system was driven off-course by a freak warp-storm so even if his pursuers knew he was aboard that ship, they wouldnt know where he wound up, they could turn the system his ship was bound for up-side down, all the good it'd do them.  
Ship had been severely damaged, the geller field had collapsed half way through the transition into normal space, the crew were driven insane. With no one to control the ship but a bunch of gibbering mad-men the ship drifted till it was pulled into the planets gravitational field and fell from the sky. It made a big crater. He left everything not his own on the ship, at the time he thought that if an investigation crew came they would find nothing missing, salvage what they could and leave. The salvage crew never came and he never went back.

It was a good day. Blue sky, a cloud here and there drifting along. The air was warm, his chiton suffised for months now.  
His day consisted of routine maintenance on his Power Armour, hidden away in his bunker of a home and trips into the wild to check the traps he fashioned, to explore the area around him. Each time his travels took him further and further away from his abode but he always came back, the sight of the lake and wood covered hill overlooking it always made him smile.

He couldnt remember where he came from but he had vague re-collections of growing up on a farm like world. There were fields for crops but a lot of the land remained wooded. Must have been another back-ward under-developed world like this.

The sun had moved west, he reckoned it to be mid-afternoon. The fish needed turning.

Something nagged at him as he leaned forward towards the fire. Frowning he finished rotating the fish and sat back looking down on the lake.  
The sun was shining, the wind was blowing, the clouds drifted on. It hit him then, the ever so slowly building whooshing noise wasnt the leaves rustling but some sort of hover vehicle. He pushed himself up and sprinted for the top of the hill.  
Nearing the top he slowed and belly-crawled up to lie among the grass. There...in the distance he could see a hover transport weaving back and forth across the land in a search pattern. It wasnt armed but its occupands no doubt would be.  
He mused briefly if perhaps they were not here looking for him, then dismissed the idea. Chances were better if he took the initiative and struck first. If they intended to keep coming this way they would have to go through the pass to the south of his hill where a small valley formed with an opposing hill. The land to the north was too densely covered in trees. That's the spot he decided.  
He had an hour before they reached the ambush point he figured, plenty of time.

He ran back down the hill and went inside his home. There at the back of the cavernous space staring back at him was his Power Armour.  
He approached and crouched in front of the armour carrying out a quick visual inspection.

Breathing steadily he armoured himself.

He had great respect for his armour and yet it was still just a tool. He remembered some Iron Hands Space Marines he crossed paths with once. They revered their armour and anything else mechanical for that matter almost as much as they did the Emperor. He never understood that.  
The bone extending from his elbows and fore-arms had forced the chapter Artificer's to modify that part of the Power Armour to allow for the growths. Finally, armoured, he bent down and picked up the adamantium sheaths that slid over his bony extensions and locked in place with a specially designed mechanism on the armour. He felt regret at what he was doing, he would not hesitate to shed the blood of his pursuers but it seemed somehow wrong to carry out such violence here. He stepped back and looked at the banner that hung behind his armour.  
A Black field with a white dragon breathing fire. His chapter's symbol in all its glory, he bowed his head and held a few moments silence to show his respect. He felt a momentory melancholy but shook it away, this was no time to brood on what brought him to this.

He lay in the tall-grass of the valley. He could just make out between the swaying stems the approaching hover transport. He had 5 minutes.  
It was solid enough for a transport. Somewhat worse for wear here and there, needed a paint-job but still functional clearly.  
Just as the transport swept over the hiding marine he leapt up and swept his right blade in an arc, carving through the transports armour and fan system. The metal screeched and sheared, sparks flew from ruined circuitry. The transport's tail half slammed into the ground as the forward half tried to keep going. The vehicle recoiled off a boulder and smashed into the ground, its remaining fan system causing it to spin in place till the fans finally gave out and shut down. There was no fire, just debris everywhere.  
A hatch creaked open on the wrecked transport and a trio of men stepped out. One was limping but was otherwise fine.  
They each held an auto-pistol and looked around them warily unaware of the Space Marine stalking them from the other side of the wrecked transport.

Three auto-pistols, either the're inordinarily arrogant or plain stupid. Either way, they die. He leapt over the transport wreck and landed right in the middle of the 3 men, he spun and cut two of the men in half while the third fell forwards blood pouring from the horizontal slash on his back. The man's spine was severed, he would die soon enough if he wasn't dead already.

He turned and saw a ragged looking woman dressed in an embossed trenchcoat pointing a plasma pistol at him. She was leaning on the metal frame - face twisted in pain. She fired, he twisted out of the way and brought up his right blade to severe the hand holding the pistol.  
She didnt even scream, simply collapsed down to her knees and fell sideways. He crouched in front of her, her face was covered in sweat and white as the dragon on his shoulder. He grabbed the stump of her arm and squeezed to stop the blood loss, she nearly fainted.

"Who are you woman"

She swallowed and shook her head. He squeezed her arm harder.

"Answer the question or I'll crush your arm, then your other arm, you see where this is going."

She shuddered and a vacant look came into her eyes. She's given up.

"In-Interrogator Unta, in service to Inquisitor Yshof of the Ordo Hereticus."

"How did you come to be on this planet"

"My lord inquisitor had come to this system aboard a supply ship in search of the missing ship that you were supposed to be on. The sensors picked up traces of ship fuel and debris that led us to this planet."

"Go on"

"We discovered the wreckage, crew was dug out and accounted for. The inquisitor instigated a planet wide search to locate you. He could not assertain if you had left on one of the previous supply transports or not but decided a search of the planet held merit."

"This inquisitor is at the wreck still?"

"Y-Yes"

He snapped the womans neck and started making his way back. It was a long way to the wreck, the Interrogator shouldnt be missed for a few days at least. Ought to be enough time to get there and clean up. He couldnt stay here now, the Inquisitors absence would be noted. He thought about coming back after he'd taken care of things at the wreck but decided it would be better to head straight for the transport that brought the Inquisitor when he was done, 'dare to tarry and you'll get burned' as the saying went.

"I really did like this place"

He wrapped what supplies he needed in the chapter banner and set off, shaking his head at such....practical use of the revered banner.

"Brothers, you would die of shame if you saw me now"

The Space Marine looked at the sky, saw the setting sun and set off wondering what the future held in store for him.


End file.
